Anne could have been Burned at the Stake
On April 15th, 1536, Anne Boleyn was charged with “despising her marriage and entertaining malice against the King and following daily her frail and carnal lust.” Despite having alibis for many of the dates when she was supposedly committing adultery, she was accused of seducing five men including her brother, Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton and Sir Francis Weston and plotting the King’s death.
The verdict was unanimous despite the flimsiness of the evidence and Anne’s plea of not guilty. It was read out by Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. “Because thou has offended our sovereign the King’s grace in committing treason against his person,” read the Duke, ” and here attainted of the same, the law of the realm is this, thou hast deserved death, and thy judgment is this: that thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same.”
In 1530, Henry had complained to Anne of the enemies he was making for her sake. Anne had replied: “That matters not, for it is foretold in ancient prophecies that at this time a Queen shall be burnt: but even if I were to suffer a thousand deaths, my love for you will not abate one jot.” Those words must have come back to haunt her in the days surrounding her trial. However, in the end, Henry allowed her a relatively merciful death: beheading, rather than burning and with a sword rather than the ax.